Grain and weed reclaiming accessory



Sept. 9, 1952 KlNG 2,609,929

GRAIN AND WEED RECLAIMING ACCESSORY Filed April 4, 1949 FIGZ J0 venfor: Ale xande/ 141mg.

Patented Sept. 9, 1952 I OFFICE GRAIN AND WEED RECLAIMING ACCESSORY Alexander King, Carman, Manitoba, Canada Application April 4, 1949, Serial No. 85,2 88 .v

My invention relates to new and useful improvements in grain and weed seed reclaiming accessories, an object of my invention being to provide a device of the character herewithin described whereby noxious weed seed may be extracted from the air stream of a harvester combine thereby preventing them from being redistributed over the land being harvested.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which in conjunction with the foregoing object retrieves a large portion of grain kernels and unthreshed head normally carried upon the air stream of a harvester combine.

Another object of my invention is toprovide a device of the character herewithin described which incorporates means whereby the percentage extraction of weed seed and grain kernels may be varied as desired.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described whereby the recovered grain and weed seeds may be deposited in a separate tank or container for disposition elsewhere as desired.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character herewithin described which is readily adaptable to the majority of harvester combines and which is extremely economical in operation and otherwise well suited for the purpose for which it is designed.

With the foregoing objects in view, and such other objects and advantages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this specification proceeds, my invention consists essentially in the arrangement and construction of parts all as hereinafter more particularly described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the rear portion of a conventional harvester com- .bine with my device in situ.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of my device per se.

In the drawings like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

While harvester combining is regarded as the most efiicient method of harvesting grain upon farms of relatively large area, it has hitherto had the disadvantage of redistributing noxious weed seeds with the chaff thereby making weed control extremely difficult.

The present invention overcomes or eliminates this disadvantage and furthermore recovers at the same time a large portion of the grain kerl Claim. (Cl. 209 -135) I 2 nelsnormally carried to the rear of a combine by the high speed air-stream, which grain kernels together with the weed seeds may be collected separately and disposed of as desired either byburning or by utilising same ascattle feed. 1 1 I Proceeding therefore to describe my invention in detail it will be seen upon reference to'the accompanying drawings that I have illustrated the rear section of a conventional harvester combine I sectioned to show the interior thereof. This rear section includes a straw rack 2, a grain conveyor 3, a chafiing table 4 having a sieve 5 therebeneath and a chaff blowing'unit 6.

The blowing unit 6 produces a stream of air through the sieve 5 and the chafier 4 which pro vides the initial separation of the chaff from the grain kernels and which is directed rearwardly after passing through the chafier following the arrows I being expelled from behind the harvester at 8 below the grain conveyor 3. My grain and weedseedreclaiming accessory collectively designated 9" includes an intercepting assembly I0 situated transversely across themain combine air-discharge path comprising an elongated trough II having the base I2 thereof inclining downwardly from the horizontal when in situ. This trough is provided with a transverse attachment bracket I3 on the distal end thereof by which it is secured to the side frame work of the combine.

The opposite endsof the trough II is attached to a blower unit I4 comprising a fan I5 and. a circular casing I6 having an outlet I'I. Reference to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings will show that trough I I inclines downwardly towards the blower unit I 4 andcomn iunicates with the interior thereof by means of the aperture I8 within the casing I6 so that any grain within trough II is fed by gravity and vibration. to the fan unit I4 as will hereinafter be described."

A substantially vertical plate I9 is adjustably secured to the rear wall 20 of trough I I by means of bolt 2| engaging with a pair of vertical slots '22 formed within said plate. In order to provide adequate support to plate I9, this has been curved to conform substantially to thecontouroftherear wall 20 of the trough and from the foregoing it will be appreciated that the plate I9 is movable vertically within its own plane and projects upwardly into the main combine air-discharge path as clearly shown in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings. A trough-hooding flange 23 is provided along the upper edge 24 of the plate I9 which in this embodiment has been angulated 'at right angles to the main plate to overhang the In order to provide adjustment to the afore a mentioned air-deflecting panel 23 I provide a pair of screwthreaded studs 3| extending from the side edges 32 of the panel 29 which are engageable within arcuate slots 33 within the side panels 34 of the combine I, thedesired position ofthe panel 36 being maintained by means of wing nuts or the like (not illustrated) in the conventional manner. From the foregoing it will be appreciated that'the air-deflecting panel 29 can be adjusted to incline downwardly and rearwardly from the bracket 28 at difierent degrees of angulation between the horizontal and the vertical.

In operation the main air-stream from the blowers followsthe arrows i to discharge rearwardly fromthe combine at 3 carrying with it weed seeds, unthreshed heads of grain, and grain kernels. By raising or loweringthe trough at; tached plate I9 agreater or lesser proportion of the Weed seeds and the like are intercepted and deposited within the trough l l, the heavier comminutive material being towards the lower portion of the air-stream. Due to the aforementioned inclination of trough H the material deposited therein will be fed by gravity and vibration to the blower 14 from whence they may be transferred via outlet [7 to a trailer tank or to a hopper secured to the combine for subsequent disposal. In this connection it is to be appreciated that the fan unit [5 of the blower l4 may be driven from the harvester combine source of powerby any convenient system of chains or'pulleys as may be desired.

In order to effect further interception the adjustable air-deflecting panel 29 is positioned in order to deflect the main body of the air-stream downwardly towards the plate I9, the chaff still being blown rearwardly by the discharging airstream. This has the efiect of increasing the extraction of the heavier materials as well as causing-direct interception of grain kernels which are deflected directly into the trough.

The desired adjustment of plate I?) and panel 29 vary with ,the conditions under which the harvester combine is operating as well as the degree ofinterception required.

Since various modifications can be made in my invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently widely different embodiments of same made within the spirit and scope of the claim without departing from such spirit and scope,

it is intended that all matter contained in the accompanying specification shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense.

What I claim as my invention is:

'An intercepting assembly for grain and weed seed reclaiming for attachment adjacent the chaff discharge end of combines and the like, comprising in combination a substantially semi-cylindrical trough transversely situated adjacent said chaff discharge end, a blower'at one end thereof, said trough inclining downwardly toward the blower end thereof, bafiie means ad-' justably projectable across the main combine chaff discharge path, said means comprising a vertical plate movable in its own plane secured to the rear wall of said trough and extending upwardly therefrom into the chaff discharge path, said plate being curved to complement the configuration of said wall, a horizontal flange along the upper edge of said plate extending over and substantially shrouding the open upper side of said trough for deflecting downwardly into said trough grain andweed seeds impinging upon said plate, and further baffle means within said chaff discharge path-cooperating with said first mentioned means, said further bafilemeans comprising an overhanging air-defiecting'panel hingedly mounted along the horizontal edge thereof above said trough and being inclinable downwardly and rearwardly over said trough between the horizontal and the vertical for 'directing the air stream towards said first men tioned bafile means, and means for maintaining said panel at different degrees of angulati'on from the horizontal.

ALEXANDER KING.

REFERENCES orrnn I V The following references are of record. in the file of this patent: V

UNI-TED s'ra'rns PATENTS Number Name Date 216,740 King June 24, 1879 287,665 Graves Oct. 30, 1883 525,301 Whitmore' Aug.28, 1894 765,821' Dornton July 26, 1904 766,163 Bradley Aug. 2, 1904 792,795 Schauer June 20, 1905 821,819 Neumann May 29, 1906 840,724 Sweet Jan. 8, 1907 921,374 Donovan May 11, 1909 1,031,144 Murray July 2, 1912 1,093,853 Hofmann Apr. 21, 1914 1,116,485 Reddy 1 Nov. 10, 1914 1,264,023 Davis Apr. 23,- 1918 2,019,274 Seymour Oct. 29, 1935 2,222,282 Court Nov. 19, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 121,486 Germany June 19, 1901 138,407 Austria July 25, 1934 

